Review of Mute (2018) by Husni S — 26 Feb 2018

Fans who liked Moon & Source Code would be disappointed after watching this movie.

It is a below average movie. A glossy B-movie at best.

It could have been slightly above average, but sublime director Duncan Jones seems to forget to add any magic to his supposedly pet project (Jones thought about the story a long time ago, it supposed to be his first movie).

The premise could be promising. In a near future neon lit city of Berlin, a mute bartender was on a quest to find his missing girlfriend. He did his own investigation and interrogation (without spoken words, mind you). He connected the dots with his low tech approach (he was Amish after all) and figured it all out in the end.

But the movie just doesn't connect with the audience. There was not enough character development for audience to care about the girlfriend. The futuristic set was just glossy backdrop. There were ample opportunities in the plot to make the story somewhat resonates with the audience but they were not adequately capitalized (like the fact that the story was in the same universe as the Moon movie and the fact that the hero had potentially interesting backstory).

One of the saving graces was the good acting by both Ruud & Theroux. But their backstory was so convoluted. The ambiguity of Cactus' moral compass was confusing to say the least. The reason for the murder was not credible enough (it was custody battle instead of fiercely jealous lover). The last act was entirely not necessary. Why Duck gave the hero a chance to speak was misleading and not making any sense. I thought he did it because he sympathized with him but he ended trying to kill him instead? What gives?

Perhaps the movie tried too hard to come up with some plot twists. They were just not interesting enough.

The other saving grace was the one dimension muted hero portrayed by Skasgard. I watched the movie until the end because I pitied him. Honest.